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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26013583">Don't leave it alone</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tbikape/pseuds/Tbikape'>Tbikape</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>HLVRAI - Fandom, Half Life VR But The AI Is Self Aware</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Kidnapping, M/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-08-20</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-08-29</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 05:15:08</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>3</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,965</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26013583</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tbikape/pseuds/Tbikape</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>After twenty years, Gordon freeman finally feels like that day was just a nightmare.Sure, in the moment, it didn't bother him as much. Now it haunts his dreams. But nightmares are nightmares. Aren't they? <br/>Meanwhile desperate prisoners drilled a hole through their walls, and are rightfully pissed</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Bubby/Dr. Coomer (Half-Life)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>5</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Fragile Normalcy</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Wooo starting this thing! I plan to run this with only general ideas in mind and set scenes so some chapters may take longer than others. Gonna try to hit hard when I can.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Spring. <br/>Honestly spring made Gordon feel more alive. It was a new day, new campus, and<br/>He.. was lost again.<br/>Happened every time. The empty courtyard was at least pleasant. flowers of almost every color were planted with care in patterns to catch the eye. The white-flowering trees on campus smelled faintly of fish while their petals littered the walkway in planty snow.  Students were mostly buzzing  about various classes or whatever suited their fancy.</p>
<p>He never did tire of his yearly-talk season. Finding a theoretical physics professor willing to travel all around the country was hard enough. Finding one that was actually good at talking in front of students was impossible! Near impossible. He was good at it. Came from a need to get outside and socialize every once in a while.  Only thing to do was to ask someone where to go</p>
<p>. He pulled himself off of the bench and went to find the nearest group of students. He could hear them, but wherever they were was a mystery he could easily solve. As he left the clearing he saw a flicker from the corner of his eye. Oh god was that fire? He approached as the fire slowly consumed a flower. The poor flower burned steadily before extinguishing itself with no damage to anything else. <br/>"Beautiful isn't it?" An older man in a lab coat was hovering behind him. Strange, he didn't hear anyone else approaching?<br/>"Erm, yeah. I never thought I'd see something just catch fire like that. Is there a cigarette butt here or-"<br/>"I wonder what spontaneous human combustion looks like here. I hear it starts in the limbs and glows blue." The man leaned in closer to whisper "Remember me?" He smiled menacingly, his teeth were sharpened?<br/>"Do I know you from somewhere?" <br/>The man's smile fell slowly.  His eyes narrowed  and he whistled a note. Gordon heard a noise behind him as a hand clamped over his nose and mouth with a cloth. Something grabbed him by the waist and whipped him around the corner as his world went dark.</p>
<p><br/>"-ain I want to STRESS that I still held back"<br/>"That's all fine and dandy, but we know he wanted him unharmed."<br/>"I, I think we should have just heard him out. Mr. Freeman  isn't a ba- oh. He's awake!"<br/>The world was swimming.  Gordon tried to move his arms or raise his head. Everything was lead. His face stung.  He appeared to be tied to a chair. Panic started to creep in. Where was he? <br/>The three blurry shapes in front of him turned. As the image became clearer it was that the three shapes were men.</p>
<p>two stood and  one was in a fetal position against the corner. The standing men were older, around his age by the looks of it. The younger man barely looks up. He's clenching a propeller cap,  Gordon flinches. The older men walk towards him in unison.</p>
<p>"P-please just take my money, I don't have much on me but.."<br/>"Hello Gordon! Its been such a long time, hasn't it? Longer for us, for sure, but it looks like you've aged." the shorter man got to face level and scowled. "Quite a shiner Bubby gave you, hmm?"</p>
<p>He must have misheard. This couldn't be real. His face froze.</p>
<p>The taller man sneered, pulling the sorter man back. The shorter man only mildly objected and gave a gentle lower of his hand to try to get the tall man to dial it down. Tall man rolled his eyes and clicked is tongue. "Maybe Tommy is right? No recognition. At all. Flashed my teeth in his face and everything. Harold, I even lit something on fire in front of him."<br/>The man in the corner looked up and smiled wearily. He pulled himself up while putting his cap on. God, he was the tallest in the room. He carried himself almost nervously. He clasped his hand tightly around the startled... middle-sized man now.</p>
<p>"See? Mr. Freeman's a nice guy, I guess he, he just forgot is all..."</p>
<p>Gordon couldn't hold it in any longer. <br/>"You... YOU FUCKERS! How the HELL did you get out?!  I thought I left you in there for good! Why aren't you just content haunting my dreams? I worked so hard to forget about all of you! Why are you still alive?!" <br/>Sweat was pouring down his face. He was wheezing. Why couldn't he wake up? The science team wasn't real.</p>
<p>He didn't get trapped in a game and fight an eldricth monster. He didn't lose his hand. There was no way he could have a gun for a hand. It was all a dream again. Had to be. He wasn't here. His head fell. He was spent. <br/>Tommy said "oh."<br/>His heartbeat had started to slow after the silence when he felt breath on the back of his head. The hairs on the back of his neck stood up. He slowly lifted his head to see a figure with skin like light colored jeans and luminous yellow eyes staring him down.<br/>"Sup Feetman. Been a while."</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Chapter 2</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Big o'l talking chapter! gonna be so hyped for the next where it kicks into gear.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The strange form of Benery Loomed over him like a vulture. It looked like a compromise between the giant monster and the one he used to get Gordon to let his guard down when they were in black mesa. When Gordon tried to pretend like just going along with the role wouldn't fuck everything up. <br/> Benrey's head cocked to left.<br/>"Why are you tied up? Thais not cool." He looked straight at Bubby. "You. Told you that he would try."<br/>Bubby nodded, smiling he exact same grin he flashed before Gordon was whisked away. <br/>"He didn't get a chance to lay a finger on me. Thanks, for your concern though."<br/>Dr. coomer nudged Tommy. Tommy coughed and added "He- he had a knife and tried to stab Bubby!" <br/>"Wait, that's not what happened! Dr.  Coomer? Tell them everything! D-Doctor... Coomer?"<br/>The man stood quiet. He slowly turned away from Gordon. <br/>Nothing. No one from the ordeal would come to his aid. God, his heart fell to his knees.<br/> The monster above him scowled slightly. It jumped to the floor and turned to him, letting out a sniff before turning on it's heels to the science team. "So plan B?" Dr. Coomer was the only one who didn't nod,  Tommy barely nodded, Bubby  still had the shit eating grin plastered on his face while he nodded. It turned to Gordon again.<br/>"Man, why's it gotta be like this every time? I tried to be cool this time too. Like super chill and let you two talk about stuff. But you were just gonna be a jerk and everything.  Now we got to be jerks back too. E-"<br/>"Look, Benrey? Thats still your name, right? I didn't do anything like that. I just wanted a nice day- go to a lecture, talk, do my thing.- Until I see shit catch fire and get slung around a corner like a sack of meat on a string! Was that chloroform?"<br/>Benry simply held his mid-word pose through the entire thing.<br/>"ven after all this time, I still wanted to be buds. Like, friends. B-"<br/>"WE. WERE. NEVER. FRIENDS. This is the real you right? I can actually say this to you, Here? "<br/>"ut I guess I was just bein' stupid. Wouldn't have had to chew our way outta there if you cared. Help us out and we'll be out of your lame-ass hair."<br/>Gordon hung his head in defeat. "Nothing I say ever matters to you, does it? If I Just help you guys, will you get lost and never bother me again?"<br/>Bubby grunted and shrugged whispering how he'd just rather kill him. Dr. Coomer muttered a "Fine." Tommy just stared. Unblinking. No expression. Even as the cloth bonds were slit by Benery (bare handed) and he was escorted away by it, Tommy never stopped staring.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>God it hurt me so much to call Benrey it during this chapter. ESPECIALLY due to the characterization of him I got planned later on.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Chapter 3</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>(God this chapter was kicking me in the shins, Gonna rewrite chapter two later)<br/>Gordon is no cartographer and is very angry.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>It was evident that the building he was brought to was just an abandoned house. The room he was taken to was only lit by a small broken window that still had jagged glass around the base. It looked like the furniture that was left over had been piled into a corner save for a single table. The sole table was covered in papers that were torn from a composition book.  There were counters built into the wall that looked kitchen-esque but  beyond repair. Dust caked the place so thickly that he could even see the footprints from the science team (and Benry). He had to cover his mouth to avoid coughing.  <br/>"Yo man, who did this?"<br/>Ugh. Benrey stopped making sense again. Dr. Coomer appeared from the doorway without making eye contact with either of them. Bubby followed while growling softly at Gordon after bumping him deliberately on passing. Tommy slowly walked past never blinking or looking where he was going. Staring. At him. <br/>Dr Coomer yanked two chairs out of the pile of furniture sending an unfortunate lamp to its doom. The pop of the glass caused Gordon to jump. Bubby snickered and grabbed the only other lamp in the pile. Dr. Coomer dragged the chairs to the table and gestured for Bubby who clenched the lamp in his lap. Tommy just stood near the table.  Benrey walked to the pile absentmindedly singing a trail of sweet voice (He could STILL do that?!?!) that was  dark green . Really the only thing preventing him from running and gutting himself on that window right now was Benrey and he was distracted. His gaze went to the window once again.<br/>"You know, Gordon if you try that I'll have no choice but to restrain you. For everyone's sake." Dr. Coomer warned. <br/>Fuck. <br/>Bubby gestured impatiently to the table. "look man, just give us what we want and we can both write this off as one of the most unpleasant fucking days of our life." <br/>Gordon approached cautiously. He didn't know who to look at in this? Just not Tommy.  The guy didn't stop staring. like, ever. He settled on Bubby as the man tossed a pen ont the papers. Dr. Coomer pushed the pen closer. <br/>"Its no secret that we aren't human. I know that Benrey can clip through anything and Tommy, well, he'll be fine. Yet Harold and I  aren't going to be able to just.. intergrate into society. If someone were to find out about his prosthetics or my .... talents? I'm not letting that happen."<br/>Dr. Coomer cleared his throat, taking a quick glance around before he started.<br/>"I am aware things don't work the same as they did back there, but none of us are thrilled to repeat our tenuous freedom in Black Mesa. Hence us seeking you out. You know this area better than we could hope to at this stage. Just point us to a safe place away from prying eyes and we'll be on our way." <br/>"How?"<br/>"By drawing a map you Simpleton!"<br/>"From what!?"<br/>Gordon pulled out his empty pockets only to be met with confused stares from the two 'sane' people in the room. <br/>"What are you doing?"<br/>"Looking for my phone!" He'd had about enough of this bullshit. "I can't draw a stupid map without a phone!"<br/>"Why would we give you a phone? That thing was a giant tracker! Sto-"<br/>"Why me? Alright! You know what!? You couldn't stay the fuck away from me in my dreams, Can't stay the fuck away from me in real life- I'll draw you a stinking map!"<br/>Gordon angrily drew a hollow little Earth with an arrow to the inside. Dr. Coomer and Bubby leaned in closer. The smaller of the two narrowed his eyes while the taller looked at the paper with disgust.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Forrest = What's this? <br/>Gordos hasn't taken color theory</p>
        </blockquote><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I can't remember where I heard it starts in the limbs, but some of those are almost always left behind. Bubby really had to hold back not to see it.</p></blockquote></div></div>
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